


Moments With You

by daretoliveforever



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-15
Updated: 2013-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-08 14:43:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/762544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daretoliveforever/pseuds/daretoliveforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn was quiet. Niall was loud. These two are complete opposites, yet they find themselves becoming the best of friends. Their story starts at the young age of 6. They experience everything together, from interest in girls, to bullies, and everything in between. This story follows the two lads as they grow up together. Learning new things can be a thrill, while others can be surprising. What happens when one has to come to terms with his own sexuality? Are these two mates really able to stick together through everything life throws their way?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moments With You

_Aged 6_

Zayn Malik was always the quiet one in school. He would always pay attention during class and do what the teachers said. But because he was so adamant on doing well, he didn’t have too many friends; none to be exact.

Zayn was often subjected to bulling. Even though he would constantly be harassed for being quiet he never once stood up to them. He saw no need to worry about others; he always thought that if they didn’t like him, well that’s their problem.

Zayn was a loner, who was content with being by himself.

That is until Niall Horan moved to town.

Niall was loud but he was a sweet boy; he always wanted to be around people and try to get them to talk to him. He was bold in doing so sometimes, he could always get people to spill their secrets to him. He never told anyone the secrets of course. He just wanted people to like and trust him. He was loved by everyone, he could always be found with a smile on his face and a giggle escaping his lips. He never had a problem making friends; he had loads of them back in Ireland so he wasn’t all that worried about making new friends in Bradford, England.

Niall moved to the UK when he was (almost) 6 years old. He moved with his older brother to live with their grandparents. Not that anything was wrong back home in Ireland, it’s just they wanted to have the best education, which meant moving to England.

The day that the new school year started, Niall was bouncing off the walls, he was so excited. Whereas, Zayn was dreading it.

Once Zayn’s mum pulled up to the school, he begged her yet again to let him go back home. But she wouldn’t give into her son that easily. She knew he needed to make some friends and start socializing, she wasn’t sure why, but she had a real good feeling about this year for Zayn.

“Don’t worry Zayn, it’ll be alright. I promise.” She soothed her son, giving him a kiss on the check. “Now go have fun.”

Zayn really doubted he would have fun, but he had to go to school, so without further hesitation, he walked into the school classroom full of screaming children.

When Zayn walked into the classroom, he was expecting one of the bullies to make some snide remark about him, but no one did. In fact no one was paying him any attention what so ever. All the students were huddled in a circle in the far right corner of the classroom. He could hear them all talking away, but he didn’t care much. Instead he took a seat in the opposite side of the room, all the way in the back.

He was hoping that with all the commotion going on in the corner, that no one would notice him. But as always, someone did.

“Hey look, its Zaynie” one kid teased. Zayn wasn’t sure who it was; he didn’t really pay any attention to the other kids. He just sighed and laid his head on his desk.

Now that the student’s noticed he was there, they started going off on how ‘weird’ Zayn is. They were talking to someone like they had never met him before. This confused Zayn because he has been in the same class with the same people for a few years now. Curiosity getting the better of him, he looked up to see a mop of blond hair amongst his peers.

That was new, he didn’t recognize the kid, but he was captivated by the smile on his face.

He could hear the kids telling the new guy about him. Zayn just figured that whoever the new kid was, it was probably just someone who would pick on him like everyone else.

He nearly fell out of his seat when he heard a thick Irish accent talking to him.

“Hi, I’m Niall” the blond kid introducing himself to Zayn, holding his hand out, waiting for Zayn to shake it.

But he didn’t. He just looked up at Niall wondering why he was even talking to him.

“I’m Zayn” he responded automatically

A larger smile spread across the younger kid’s face, clearly happy that he got a response out of the quiet lad.

“Nice to meet you Zayn.” Niall tested out Zayn’s name, he liked the way it sounded and the way it rolled off the tip of his tongue “I like your name, mind if I sit next to you?”

“If you want.” Zayn responded with a shrug to the young Irishman.

“No Niall don’t sit next to him, he’s just a loser, come sit next to me.” Some bratty little kid chirped in.

Niall couldn’t understand why all the kids didn’t like Zayn. He only knew Zayn for a few minutes and already he likes him.

“You should probably go sit somewhere else unless you want to be picked on for the rest of eternity” Zayn said to Niall, he didn’t know why but he didn’t want Niall to have to go through the same thing he is going through.

“That’s ok. I like you Zayn. I’d rather sit by you.” Niall said, taking a seat next to Zayn.

The two young boys smiled at each other, they didn’t know it quite yet, but they were going to become the closest of friends.

~*~

_Aged 7_

Zayn and Niall had been the best of mates for a little over a year now. They would do everything together and could always be found roaming around one of their neighborhoods, side by side, causing the neighbors headaches with their strange antics. At times Zayn had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that someone as nice as Niall would want to be friends with someone like himself.

The two friends were complete opposites in every way, but like many people say, opposites attract and in this case, it’s very true.

Because Niall chose to befriend Zayn, he too became subjected to the bulling. It never bothered him though. He would normally just brush it off and think nothing of it. Zayn on the other hand still struggled with the comments some of his peers threw his way, but it wasn’t nearly as bad because he had Niall by his side to help comfort him when things got rough.

More often then not, people would pick on Zayn for the way he looked, to how he dressed, and pretty much everything in between. And every time someone stuck their nose into his business, Niall would be there to scream at them to leave Zayn alone.

Zayn was happy that he finally had a friend around. He was glad that someone other than his family cared about him. He would often talk about the crazy adventures he and Niall went through that day with his family, his mother would just smile and sometimes shed a small tear because of how happy she was that her baby boy finally had a true friend.

~*~

_Aged 8_

Niall was always an adventurous lad, so when his and Zayn’s class went on a field trip to a museum, he couldn’t help but drag Zayn along with him, away from the group, to have a bit of fun on their own. Zayn being cautious was very hesitant about this idea, but one look at Niall’s puppy dog pout told him that he wasn’t going to let his only friend wander around an enormous museum by himself, so eventually they found themselves in a room filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts.

“Do you think that these mummies could actually come to life?” Niall asked Zayn who was looking precariously at a set of ancient jewelry pieces.

“I hope not. They might want to eat our brains if they do.” The Bradford native responded.

“Not my brains, they wouldn’t like mine. They would want to eat yours though. You have a smart brain so I think they’d want to eat yours before they eat mine.” Niall let out with a giggle.

Zayn laughed at his friends analysis of which brain would taste better. They were always having weird conversations like this. That’s one reason why Zayn liked Niall so much, he always had something to talk about, and not something boring, but something entertaining and weird, something most people wouldn’t think about.

They had been roaming around the museum for several hours now, not once seeing their class. They figured that they should probably find them so they could go home. Niall’s Gran was making dinner for him and Zayn, Niall being hungry all the time and Zayn loving Gran’s chicken, so with that thought looming in their minds they took off in search for their class.

As the two walked into the main lobby area of the museum, their teacher came into the room as well; she looked furious.

“Where have you two been?” She demanded

Zayn was terrified, he began to cower behind Niall who stepped up to the situation and told her that they were just exploring.

“You two are in a heap of trouble when we get back to school.”

She grabbed each of the boys hand and hauled them out of the building.

~*~

_Aged 9_

One of the things that the two young lads had in common was that they weren’t fighters. They would much rather talk something out then get physical with another person.

Whenever they would get harassed, they would just make a statement about the bully being an idiot or being stupid. The bullies were never physically abusive, just verbal. As they got older, that started to change too. The bullies began to get taller and more muscular. Zayn liked to say that their bodies were growing bigger but their brains were shrinking.

So in all actuality they shouldn’t have been surprised that when they started the new school term, that they would be targeted to the physical bulling, they just didn’t realize that it was going to be a regular thing.

The guys in their class got huge over the holiday. Like really huge, almost like they had been put on steroids or something. No normal 9 year old should look like that.

And of course Zayn and Niall were their first targets. The first day back they both ended up with a couple punches to the arms, nothing too bad.

As the year went by the hitting, punching, and kicking got worse. The bullies got nastier and meaner with every waking day. Each day Niall and Zayn would help each other home, and clean up whatever new scratch marks they got. Their families didn’t know about all of this, they didn’t want to make a fuss about it so they kept it to themselves.

One day the two were leaving school to head over to Niall’s to play some video games when they were stopped by the biggest of the bullies. They think that he was held back a year or two cause he looked like he was about 13 years old rather than 9 like the rest of their class.

He didn’t like Zayn at all. Zayn didn’t know why the guy hated him so much, he just did. He thought maybe it was because he needed some poor sap to torture and Zayn was just the lucky one to have been chosen.

“Hey Malik! Get over here.” He screamed at the two friends. Neither of them wanting to turn around, both fearing something bad was about to happen.

They both knew that if they didn’t, then they both would be hurt severely.

Reluctantly Zayn turned around to face the giant sack of bones that people call a human being.

“What do you want now?” Zayn replied.

“Just curious as to where you nerds are off to in such a hurry.” He was really weak in his comebacks, but he had a powerful punch to back it up.

“It’s none of your business.” Zayn turned around and started walking off towards Niall’s house with the Irishman following close behind.

“Hey! I’m not done with you!” The guy was screaming now, he was much angrier than usual.

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” he muttered back to the bully.

“No. I can’t. And you know what, I really hate you and I think I should show you just how much I really hate you.” Before Zayn could respond, his face was being bashed in by a heavy fist.

He staggered backwards, falling to the ground, clutching his swelling eye.

“What was that for” Niall started screaming at the antagonizer.  He was furious. Niall was sick and tired of everyone picking on him and Zayn. This was the last straw for the small lad.

Niall launched himself towards the boy that has been tormenting them for so long. He started kicking, punching and clawing at the oversized kid. Zayn was surprised that Niall even had the strength to do such a thing. Niall wasn’t the strongest person he ever knew, but he was defiantly holding his own in this fight.

Zayn stood up, not wanting Niall to get hurt, he grabbed hold of the blond boy and yanked him away from the fight. Together they ran away. They ran as fast as they could to get as far away as they could.

They finally managed to get to Niall’s house, where his Gran kindly cleaned up both of the boys wounds. She didn’t concede about the fight, but she was happy that they stood up for each other. Although she was furious that Zayn ended up with a black eye.

~*~

_Aged 11_

By the time they were both 11, they started noticing things. Girls to be exact. They started taking a bit of a fancy in some of the girls they knew. They started to get curious as to the life of girls and what it would be like to have a relationship with one as well as what it would be like to kiss one of them.

Niall and Zayn often found themselves talking about girls. They would talk about what they liked about them, which girls they thought were pretty and which ones they would like to have their first kiss with.

They often tried to talk to the girls in their class, but more often than none they would be shot down and ignored. In a way this fueled their interest even more. They wanted to know everything about them, and more importantly they wanted to know why they were being ignored by them.

~*~

_Aged 12_

The interest in the opposite gender has grown on Niall and Zayn. They were more determined than ever to get a girlfriend and that much prized first kiss.

The insanity of an upcoming dance was fast approaching so Niall and Zayn saw this as the perfect time to make their move. They both picked out potential dates for the event and decided that they were going to ask them in hopes that one will agree to go with them.

Niall was still intimidated by the idea of ‘dating’ so he was reluctant to ask a girl out. In the end he chickened out completely, opting to go by himself. Zayn was more determined than ever. He wanted to get a date bad, so the first day that they set their plans into motion, he asked each girl on his list.

And every single one of them turned him down.

He was crushed. That night he ended up crying into a bowl of ice cream while Niall desperately tried to calm him down.

“It ain’t worth it mate. Don’t worry about it, your time will come.” Niall’s soothing voice echoing in Zayn’s ears.

“Yeah but I really wanted someone to say yes. Why didn’t anyway say yes?” Zayn whispered staring intently into his now empty bowl.

Niall could see the struggle that his best mate was going through. He didn’t like seeing him like this. He wanted to see him happy.

“You know what; let’s just forget about the dance. What do you say? Instead we can watch horror movies and drink and eat as much as we can stomach.” Niall suggest to his upset friend.

Zayn looked up and for the first time that night, his eyes were clear and excited about the idea.

“That sounds like an absolute fantastic idea mate.”

~*~

_Aged 13_

There was a new girl in Niall and Zayn’s class. She was real sweet and kind. She was also Irish. Niall fell for her hard when he heard her talk with her thick Irish accent. He was even more surprised when she would always be talking to him.

Zayn couldn’t help but feel happy for his friend. He knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them asked the other out on a date.

About a fourth of the way through the school year, sure enough Niall got the courage to ask her on a date. He was thrilled when she agreed. Her name is Sammy.

The night of the date, Zayn was over at Niall’s house, attempting to help his frantic friend prepare for the date. He was nervous about what was going to happen, but excited at the same time. They planned to go to the cinemas so it gave them an opportunity to talk a little, but enough time for them to be comfortable in each other’s presence.

The next day Niall went over to Zayn’s house. He was over the moon. The minute he stepped into the house, he began going over every detail of the date. He talked about the different towns they came from in Ireland, to the things they had in common, to the end of the date where she told him that she wanted to go out again.

A few weeks passed since Niall’s date. Niall and Sammy were officially dating. They were incredibly cute together. Niall was a complete gentleman and would always hold her stuff and open doors for her. He was the epitome of a perfect boyfriend.

Zayn was happy for the two, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

Niall didn’t want to neglect his friendship with Zayn, so he promised him that he would spend the weekend with him and do whatever it was he wanted to do. This excited Zayn because it showed him that no matter what, he and Niall would always be great friends.

The night Niall came over, he was beaming a toothy grin, arms filled with an assortment of food, drinks, and DVDs. Zayn stifled a laugh as Niall tumbled into the house, dropping everything as soon as he could.

As they set out to watch the first of a set of truly gruesome films, Zayn couldn’t help but ask

“So have you kissed Sammy yet?”

Niall’s cheeks flamed up at the question. He began to get really fidgety.

“Uhh, I was going to tell you. I must’ve forgotten. But yeah, I kissed her a few nights ago.” He risked a look up at Zayn who was wearing a ridiculous grin.

“Alright Niall!” He started cheering like it was the best thing he has ever heard.

“You’re such an idiot Zayn.” Niall couldn’t help but smile as his best mate approved of his relationship.

“So how was it?” Zayn asked, breaking into laughter as Niall through a pillow at his head.

~*~

_Aged 14_

Niall and Sammy became inseparable. They had been together for nearly a year now and they were head over heels for each other. Whatever one of them was doing, the other was sure enough, following right along. At school, they’d always sit by each other, pass love notes, talk about anything and everything with each other.

This left Zayn alone again.

Niall was getting so wrapped up in Sammy that he hasn’t been hanging around Zayn very much anymore. Zayn would often be found sitting by himself during lunch, going straight home after school, and stuck at home on the weekends.

He missed Niall. He missed having his best friend around constantly. He was happy for Niall; he’s never seen the Irish lad so happy before. Every time he saw them together, Zayn would feel a tightening in his stomach, and an ache in his chest.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Zayn was at home watching TV. It had become quite a common occurrence, he would lazy around the house all weekend, and then Sunday night he would get a call from Niall apologizing for not coming over, then talking his ear off about Sammy.

The doorbell rang and Zayn was hesitant to get up and answer it. It probably wasn’t anyone important anyway, just someone trying to sell him something. But the bell kept going off; whoever was at the door knew that Zayn would be home.

Reluctantly, Zayn stood up and walked over to the door.

Zayn was surprised to see Niall standing in the doorway, but what really shocked him were the tears that were running down his pale face.

“Niall, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Zayn franticly asked the questions while whisking his friend into his house.

Niall launched himself into Zayn’s arms, wanting to be held by someone who cared. Niall was broken. He was hurt and crushed in so many ways. He just wanted to feel the comforting embrace of Zayn, who was whispering that things would be alright.

“She cheated.” Niall let out with a raspy voice. “She cheated on me Zayn”

Zayn couldn’t believe what he heard, he was furious. He thought Sammy was the kind of girl that was sweet and innocent, not someone who would go a cheat behind their boyfriends

Zayn’s hold on his sobbing friend tightened as the facts hit him with full force. She hurt his best friend. What kind of a person would do that? He was livid. One look at the mess that was crumpled in his arms told him that.

Now it was Zayn’s turn to make things right. He gently peeled away from Niall and pulled him into the kitchen. One thing he knew about his mate was food is always the answer. Sure enough, he was right. The second he place a tub of ice cream and a bag of crisps in front of Niall, he dug right into them, stuffing his face until the tears had stopped and he could make coherent sentences again.

“How did you find out?” Zayn asked. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. He wasn’t sure he would be able to handle the situation if Niall had seen it firsthand.

“She told me.” He said between bits of ice cream. “She said that she was seeing someone else, that she didn’t want to be with me ‘cause I’m too nice or something.”

Well that made no sense. A person is too nice so you break up with them? That’s a real dumb reason.

“Forget about her mate. She isn’t worth it. If she wants to be with some jerk, let her. No point in you getting hurt anymore.” Zayn said, putting a comforting arm around Niall.

Once again, the two lads were alone, but at least they had each other.

~*~

_Aged 15_

Niall eventually got over Sammy. He even found a new girlfriend, her name was Lauren. She was alright. Nothing special but Niall had taken a liking in her. Zayn couldn’t understand why though, see was obnoxious and loud.

Zayn had a feeling that she was going to hurt him; he was just hoping that he would be wrong.

Lauren had a thing about making her presence known; she wanted everyone to look at her and wanted everyone to listen to what she had to say.

Zayn should have known something bad was about to happen when she started making a scene in the middle of the lunch room. He looked up from his sandwich to see Lauren screaming.

Why was she screaming? And who was she screaming at?

Then he caught sight of Niall leaning back in his chair, staring up at Lauren. She was yelling at him. Zayn knew that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. He gathered his things and walked over to the crowd that Lauren was drawing.

Zayn didn’t catch anything she said, but he could tell by the look on Niall’s face, it was awful. She stormed off, parting the crowd that was around them. This let Zayn get through, he sat down next to Niall who was frozen in place.

“What happened, Niall?” He asked breaking Niall out of the trance he was in.

“She broke up with me, in front of everyone.” He was slowly turning into a crumpled mess. Zayn had to get him out of there and fast.

He grabbed hold on Niall and dragged him out of the school, he didn’t care about the rest of the classes they had that day, still holding onto Niall he headed to Niall’s house.

When they got to the house, they went straight up to Niall’s room. Niall looked exhausted so a good nap would help him. Zayn laid him in his bed and tucked him in; telling him that he needed to rest. He turned around ready to leave the room when Niall grabbed his hand.

“Stay” Niall said softly.

Zayn couldn’t refuse his broken friend. He crawled into the bed beside Niall.

Niall hadn’t released Zayn’s hand, he wasn’t going to, and he wanted to know that Zayn was there. Once Zayn was settled underneath the covers, Niall began to doze off, although Zayn wasn’t able to himself. He couldn’t help but notice the way Niall looked when he slept, the way his cheeks had a soft tint of pink, the way his eyelashes fell when his eyes were closed; he looked so peaceful. Zayn could feel Niall’s hand still clutching onto his, he could also feel his heart racing.

It felt like the first time Zayn had ever really noticed Niall.

The bed was small which meant they were practically lying on top of each other. Niall nuzzled into Zayn’s neck. Zayn was lost for words. He loved the close proximity that he was in with Niall.

Zayn had thought about the possible feels he had for Niall before, but being here with Niall clutching onto him, he started to realize that he really did like Niall more than friends. The flutter of butterflies in his stomach, the racing of his heart, and the overwhelming happiness he was feeling only confirmed his suspicions.

That day Zayn realized two things. One, he liked guys. Two, he was in love with his best friend.

~*~

_Aged 16_

Zayn had finally accepted the fact that he has an interest in boys. He had been struggling with the idea for a while, often trying to convince himself that it wasn’t true, that he liked girls. But every time he saw Niall, those butterflies would come back and he would have to accept the idea. It took a while, but now he is comfortable with it.

No one knew about this. Not even Niall. He wanted to tell Niall, but he was afraid of what he would think.

They were both sitting on the back porch of Zayn’s house one hot summer afternoon. Neither of them were talking, they felt like it took to much energy to do so. Eventually Niall did speak up.

“What do you think about Livvy? She seems to be taking an interest in you. Maybe you should ask her out or something.”

Zayn groaned at the thought of asking someone out. Niall has been trying to get Zayn to ask someone out for a month now, each time he would make up an excuse as to why he can’t.

“No, I think I’ll pass. She’s nice, but not my type.” Zayn said with little enthusiasm in his voice.

“Ohh come on you have got to get a girlfriend soon. Why not ask her, you may be surprised.” He was being even pushier then usual about it today.

“Seriously Niall, I don’t want a girlfriend.” He looked over at Niall who was giving him a confused look.

“Why not?” He asked voice full of wonder. He was eyeing Zayn, trying to get him to spill whatever it was he was hiding.

Zayn closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Because I’m gay.” Zayn said with his eyes still closed, not wanting to risk looking at Niall for fear of blushing or telling him his true feelings.

“Oh. Ok then how about you ask out Shawn. I bet he would totally go out with you.”

Zayn’s eyes flew open at the suggestion Niall just made. He was expecting Niall to get uncomfortable or weirded out by his confession, not suggest asking a guy out.

“You… you don’t care? You don’t mind me being gay?” Zayn was absolutely dumbfounded.

“Why should I, I don’t care who you like. If you love someone it shouldn’t matter what gender they are. Love is love. Period.” That was the most thoughtful thing Zayn has ever heard Niall say.

Zayn smiled at Niall and pretended to care as he listed off potential boys for Zayn to ask out.

~*~

_Aged 17_

Niall was having an awful time holding down relationships. Every time he would get a girlfriend, they would end up hurting him. He was constantly getting his heart broken. He didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. It was always the same thing, they would always tell him that he wasn’t into the relationship, or he just wasn’t their type. It frustrated Niall to no end. He wanted a steady relationship.

Each time Niall would be dumped, he would find himself crawling back to Zayn looking for comfort. And each time Zayn would be there with open arms for him to cry into. He found great comfort in Zayn’s arms.

Zayn was always caring and loving towards Niall. This confused Niall even more, he had seen Zayn try to ask a guy out, but no one would accept the date. Zayn was mostly asking people out because Niall wanted him too. Niall didn’t understand why he was always being turned down. To him Zayn was the kind of guy anyone would be lucky enough to date.

Niall started to realize that in his life, there was only one thing that was consistently there, and that was Zayn.

It had been a long week at school. Niall and Zayn were both exhausted. Zayn’s parents were out of town so it was just Zayn at home and Niall of course. He showed up soon after Zayn’s parents left, with the usual items that meant that he was going to be sticking around for the weekend.

After playing several video games and eating all the food, they both got bored. It was later in the day and the sun had just set.

“Have you ever gotten drunk before?” Niall asked Zayn who was starting to doze off on the couch.

“No. Have you?”

“Nope.”

They gave each other a sly smile as they ran into the kitchen. They found the liquor that Zayn’s parents were hiding and set out a couple glasses.

“Alright then what should we try first?” Zayn questioned. He started to get bolder in his actions, not really caring about the repercussions as he got older.

“Let’s try this” Niall said lifting a bottle of clear liquid.

In no time at all, both boys were completely smashed. They only had a few drinks but because their bodies weren’t used to the alcohol, they ended up drunk fast.

Niall was babbling incoherently on the floor while Zayn was lying upside down on the couch.

“You know what Zayn. Screw girls!” Niall was way beyond drunk at this point. Zayn couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Niall’s word choice.

“I bet you’d like that eh mate?” Zayn couldn’t help but mock Niall. It was just too easy.

“I’m serious. All they do is break your heart. I’m done with them.”

“So what are you telling me you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life?” Zayn was giddy from the alcohol that was running through his veins.

“No I think I’m gonna try out men first.”

Zayn sobered up really fast at hearing what Niall just said. Niall wanting to be with men, that didn’t make any sense to Zayn, he knew (or thought) that Niall was as straight as they got.

“Ok if you want to start fucking men, then who do you have in mind?”

Niall looked down at the floor, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

“I don’t know... You’re kinda my type.” Niall said not looking up at Zayn. They both had sobered up pretty fast at the change in subject.

Zayn didn’t say anything; he knew that it was just the alcohol talking.

“Zayn” Niall was quiet when he was speaking now. “Have you ever kissed anyone?”

Now it was Zayn’s turn to blush. He hadn’t kissed anyone yet, he thought Niall knew that, but hearing the question made Zayn get nervous again, like he was talking to someone he’s had a crush on for a while, which in reality he was but it was different than that.

“No, no I haven’t.” A full blown blush had spread out on Zayn’s face. He couldn’t look at Niall, but he knew that the young lad was looking at him.

Zayn didn’t know when Niall had gotten so close.

“Kiss me Zayn.” Niall was whispering.

They were incredibly close, they could feel the heat radiating off of each other’s bodies, their breath was mingling; only a few centimeters were between them. The space was closing between them, their eyes closed.

Their lips brushed against each other, barely touching.

Niall took the chance to deepen the kiss. They both felt the familiar butterflies leaping in their stomachs. Zayn’s heart skipped a beat as he felt Niall’s lips touch his, Niall’s heart doing the same.

When their lips parted, they opened their eyes to look into the familiar set staring back at them. There was such passion in each other’s eyes.

They smiled.

~*~

_Aged 18_

Zayn and Niall decided to take a chance on being together. They loved each other’s company and loved the way that they could be comfortable together.

They didn’t show any feelings towards each other at school. They didn’t want to end their year being beaten to a pulp for being gay. They had seen what some of the other gay kids went through; they felt bad for them because they were always being picked on and teased. It was awful.

That’s why they decided to keep their relationship a secret.

They started spending everyday in each other’s company. Whenever they got out of school, they would go over to one of their houses, do homework, and share tender kisses with each other.

They were both finally happy.

It felt right to them, nothing about it felt wrong. They loved each other, they have ever since they became friends.

They were nearing the end of their time at school. In a few weeks they would graduate and move on to University. They had both been accepted into the same school which meant they could be together even then.

Life was looking up for the two boys. They finally found love in each other and nothing was going to stop them now.

~*~

_Aged 19_

Zayn and Niall were in their first year at University. Zayn was studying to be an English teacher and Niall was studying to be a Music teacher.

Life was going great for them. Their parents accepted their relationship. This was a great relief for the two of them.

Niall would often take Zayn out on dates, they would have a lovely dinner then they would go for a walk. They would spend hours talking about things and giving each other soft kisses.

Zayn often wondered how he got so lucky to have found someone as great as Niall. He didn’t want anything more than to see him smile and laugh.

Niall wondered the same, he thought often about why it took him so long to realize his feelings for Zayn, but one look at the smile on his boyfriends lips would confirm that it was worth the wait. He loved Zayn; he didn’t want that to ever change.

~*~

_Aged 23_

It was graduation day for Niall and Zayn. They were graduating from University finally.

After the long ceremony and fighting their mothers to stop the crying, Niall finally got Zayn by himself.

“Guess what?” He asked Zayn. He wrapped his arms around his other half who just smiled at him and said

“What?”

“I’m going to take you out to dinner tonight.”

Niall couldn’t help but grin as he saw the excitement dance around in Zayn’s eyes.

Placing a soft kiss to Niall’s lips Zayn said

“I can’t wait.”

They had a lovely meal together. The food was delicious and they were laughing at jokes being made. It was a perfect evening for the two. They were able to relax and have fun while being in each other’s company.

After the meal Niall took Zayn’s hand and led him out into the chilly night.

“Where to now Mr. Horan?” Zayn’s laughter mixing into his words.

“Just be patient, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Niall led him, hand in hand, into one of the parks that were dotted around the city. They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the feeling of their hands intertwined.

They were walking over a small bridge that hung over a creek when Niall stopped. He grabbed Zayn and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“I love you Zayn” Niall’s voice brushing against the smooth skin of Zayn’s neck.

Zayn smiled and placed a kiss on Niall’s shoulder.

“I love you too Niall.”

Neither of them wanted to let go. They were content with being entangled in the other’s arms. They lost all sense of time when they were like this. Nothing in the world mattered except for the person they were clinging to.

Niall stepped back first. He took hold on Zayn’s hands.

“Zayn, I love you. I love you with all of my heart. You have been the one person in my life that has always been there for me. You have loved me for so long, whenever I would feel crummy or worthless, you would always be there by my side, to help me through it. No one in the world matters more to me then you. You are my world Zayn. Without you I would be lost. I wouldn’t know what to do. I never what to be away from you. You mean everything to me. I love everything about you. I love the way you smile, the way you laugh, the way you look in the morning even though you are cranky. Everything. I find more reasons to love you every day.”

Niall got down on his knee and pulled out a small box from his pocket. Zayn’s breath caught and his heart started running at a million miles per hour.

“I want to show you how much I love you. So Zayn Javadd Malik, will you marry me?”

A tear started rolling down Zayn’s cheek as he looked at the ring that Niall was holding up to him. He got down on his knees in front of Niall and pulled him tightly into his chest.

“Yes. Yes of course I will marry you. I love you so much Niall.”

Niall slipped the ring onto Zayn’s finger. He looked up into Zayn’s eyes; they were bright with joy and love.

Zayn pressed his hands to the side of Niall’s head and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

The two were in love and happy and that’s all that mattered to them.


End file.
